Environmentalists have filed an appeal of the Forest Service’s approval of the Peak 6 expansion at Breckenridge, focusing arguments around the endangered Canadian lynx.

Arguing that the 550-acre expansion — which the White River National Forest approved in August following several years of study — violates federal environmental and wildlife protection laws and will not reduce trail traffic or lift waits as designed, the almost 42-page appeal seeks to block the expansion on Breckenridge’s Peak 6.

“We addressed everything we thought we would be a good objection,” said Rocky Smith, a longtime forest advocate who filed the appeal representing a loosely knit group of nearly 40 other individuals and six environmental groups.

Smith, who attended public meetings during the review of the Peak 6 expansion proposal, has long criticized the Forest Service’s decision to suspend a federal law that requires the agency to maintain connected swaths of wildland used by the endangered Canadian lynx.

White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams argued in his August approval of the expansion that the heavily developed forests around the resort-heavy Summit County and Peak 6 were already unable to meet federal standards for lynx habitat. Mitigation or conservation measures on the expansion acres would have little impact, Fitzwilliams said in his decision.

Smith’s appeal argues that future growth in the forest could revive lynx habitat.

“There are definitely hits to the habitat in Summit County,” Smith said. “But it’s not severed. If they didn’t build this thing, the habitat could certainly be used by the lynx. The whole idea that the Forest Service, which has a statutory duty to protect the lynx, would rescind rules meant to protect the animal is just egregious.”

The appeal will now wind through the Forest Service, with an appointed officer making a recommendation to an appeals board by the end of November. The agency will likely contact Smith and his group to see if there is any way to reconcile the appeal without further review.

“I don’t expect a quick resolution,” Smith said.

A spokeswoman with Breckenridge ski area, which first proposed the expansion five years ago as a way to alleviate crowding during peak traffic, declined to comment on the appeal.

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills and is just as inspired by the lively entrepreneurial spirit that permeates Colorado's high country communities as he is by the views.

More in News

The Denver Art Museum plans to funnel a $25 million one-time gift into the estimated $150 million budget for renovating its iconic North Building in time for the structure’s 50th anniversary in 2021, officials announced Thursday.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, a vocal critic of substantially increasing the minimum wage and an opponent of rules that would make more workers eligible for overtime pay, as head of the Labor Department.